Meriden monument is the centre of England - Birmingham Mail Meriden monument is the centre of England Grade II listed Meriden monument is traditionally known as the centre of England. Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email There's an ancient, listed monument dating back more than 500 years that proudly stands on the green in a West Midland village. But other than those who live in Meriden, west of Coventry city, few know the truth behind what it represents – it actually marks the central point of England. Or, to be more precise, for centuries this grade II listed, old cross sandstone monument has marked what’s been traditionally known as the centre of England. Old postcards, believed to date from the 1920s, celebrate “Ye Olde Crosse – Centre of England” in Meriden, which is in the metropolitan borough of Solihull. And a plaque on the monument itself states: “This ancient wayside cross has stood in the village for some 500 years and by tradition it marks the CENTRE OF ENGLAND.

“The cross was rebuilt on this site when the garden was improved in celebration of the Festival of Britain A.D 151.” Yet, despite being accepted as fact for over 500 years, in more recent times it’s become a much debated claim that has seen tradition pitted against modern, scientific methods of calculating exact points of reference . Back in 2002 Ordnance Survey (OS), using global satellite positioning, redetermined the “geographical centre of England” as being 11 miles north of Meriden, at Lindley Hall Farm, Fenny Drayton, close to the Warwickshire border. A six-foot tall monument made from a railway sleeper now marks the spot and bears testimony to the new OS grid reference which is SP 36373.66 96143.05. But critics argue that this modern recalculation in no way diminishes Meriden’s claims, which had been unchallenged for centuries, because they stem back to a time before science mattered. It’s believed Meriden had originally been declared the centre of England using a gravitational, or centroid, system, which also took into account the country’s islands.

Under this system it’s believed the centre of England was deemed to be at the point where a cardboard cut-out of the country could be balanced on the tip of a pencil. But, whether you align yourself with science, or tradition, Meriden’s monument still remains a tourist attraction , with visitors from overseas, including America, coming to see it and be pictured with it. And, according to villagers, regardless of the new OS calculation, how Meriden became known as the centre of England, and for so long, continues to be a great talking point. Like us on Facebook End to End - The Heart of England Way Introduction The Heart of England Way is a "semi-official" long distance path, designed to link the Cotswold Way to the Staffordshire Way by means of a broad arc of rural country passing to the east of the Birmingham conurbation. It was conceived in 1978 by a group of local walking clubs, whose members put in a good deal of work to bring what was a series of local footpaths up to a walkable standard, largely free from obstacles such as blockages, discontinuities and standing crops. The Way became viable in 1990.

It has been rerouted since its inception and, since I incorporated it within the End-to-End Walk, it has been extended southwards to Bourton-on-the-Water and northwards to Milford. These extensions do not form part of my route and will not be included within the narrative. Despite its proximity to the cities of Birmingham and Coventry the character of the walk is almost entirely rural. The country you pass through is prediminantly farmland, though its charachter changes subtly as you walk northwards. The Way leaves the diminishing Cotswold scarp at Meon Hill to fall to the Vale of Evesham and its orchards and vegetable fields, reaching the river Avon at Bidford. Flattish country of cropped fields and little villages then gives way to the hillier Arden landscapes, dotted with woods and pastures. Grazing sheep give way to grazing cattle and then more crops, broken briefly by the Coventry suburbs of Balsall Common and Berkswell. Some splendid open country follows as you cross the low hills around Meriden, the geographical centre of England.

The Tame valley beyond is a post-industrial landscape, a world of water parks created from disused gravel pits, with vistas of motorways, power stations and electricity transmission lines. Fortunately this section is brief, a series of wooded hills around Weeford being followed by the vast, prairie-like fields of Packington Moor and the small cathedral city of Lichfield. And after Lichfield comes Cannock Chase, a world of wooded heathland and long, straight vehicle tracks much loved by cyclists. The Heart of England Way links up with the Staffordshire Way on Cannock Chase just west of Rugeley, and in consequence the last section of the walk described here actually extends onto the latter route in order to reach the closest approach to the town. Logistics This is not camping country. There are campsites dotted around, but they are few and far between. There are also few hostels. This is primarily B&B country, although some villages and towns are so far off the tourist trail that even hotel rooms and places to eat out are in short supply. It's good public transport country, though. Every obvious start and finish point is within about an hour of Birmingham New Street, making the Way ideal for tackling as a series of day hikes.

If the prospect of basing yourself in Birmingham doesn't enthuse you, consider staying in other, more aesthetic locations - I found that Stratford-on-Avon was an excellent base for the southern half of the Way, while Lichfield itself served the northern half adequately. You do need to check on public transport times on Sundays and bank holidays, and remember also that the Midland Main Line - serving Rugeley and Lichfield Trent Valley - has a surprisingly skeletal service even on weekdays. Some journeys will involve travelling into Birmingham and out again, but that's no real hassle. The various one-day walks that make up the Heart of England Way: (Click the links for the individual walk indexes and photo galleries) The English Administrative County of Warwickshire The English Administrative County of Warwickshire Warwickshire Arms The Armorial Bearings (Arms) of the County of Warwickshire Adjust the Warwickshire map using controls or drag with mouse Map Centre Position: Lat , Long .

Map Zoom Level: - Icon Help (The external website above will open in a new window) Population and area summary of the County of Warwickshire The County of Warwickshire is located in The Midland Counties of England, it covers an administrative area of 1,975Km² and in 2001 was home to a population of 505,860 persons, that represents 1.03% of that of England and 0.01% of the population of the entire United Kingdom. More detailed information including visitor attractions and event venues in Warwickshire is available on this site by following the links below to the Boroughs and/or Districts or follow this link to select a different County . Boroughs/Districts of the County of Warwickshire Unitary Authorities and Metropolitan Areas may be displayed here as they are locations are historically associated with this county/region. Unitary Authorities and Metropolitan Areas are however self-governing and are no longer responsible to the County/Regional Administration.

Metropolitan Areas Historical notes about The English Administrative County of Warwickshire WARWICKSHIRE "Warwick, near Stratford-on-Avon." That was the legend I saw in a popular magazine recently beneath a picture of Warwickshire's county town, and I can think of nothing that more neatly summarizes the woefully mistaken attitude of most people towards one of England's most beautiful counties. The reason is that most people think of Warwickshire as first and foremost the land of Shakespeare: his memory has, as it were, stolen the limelight from most of the other attractions the county has to offer, and there are many. Stratford-on-Avon and Shakespeare's county closely surrounding it are but a small part of the county's total area, yet it is to this part that tourists come from all corners of the world to do homage to the "Bard of Avon." Up to the outbreak of war in 1939 a hundred thousand of them came every year, yet despite this annual invasion from without, the great bulk of Warwickshire remains comparatively unexplored. Yet nowhere in England is finer woodland scenery to be found, and few counties are more steeped in history and romance of England's turbulent past.

The geographical centre of England certainly lies within the county, but the exact spot seems to be in dispute, for at the village or Meriden, five miles from Coventry on the road to Birmingham, there are the remains of a cross which was erected to mark the supposed centre, whilst at Leamington Spa the "Midland Oak," claims the same distinction! Warwickshire is a medium-sized county, neither too large to be intimate nor small enough to be cramped. It covers an area of almost nine hundred square miles spread over which live rather more than million and a half people. The industrial north-west, as one would expect, absorbs most of the population. Birmingham, second only to London amongst English cities, alone houses just over a million people, whilst the other industrial towns - the chief of which are Coventry, Rugby, Nuneaton, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield - absorb approximately a further four hundred thousand. There are, therefore, only about a hundred thousand people spread throughout the county areas, yet at the time of writing some five-sixths of the county are devoted to farming, about two-thirds of this for permanent pasture.

Fortunately, the county's large and highly organized industries are extremely centralized and, as a result, encroach less than most industries do upon the large areas of unspoiled country that Warwickshire has to offer. Geological Make-up The county is blessed with rich soil and mild climate, and these two factors together have encouraged extensive dairy farming and market gardening. The main grain crops are wheat and oats, and there are excellent orchards. Nor, as we shall see, is Warwickshire lacking mineral resources. It is, in fact, a county admirably balanced from a social and an economic point of view. Geologists tell us that the physical structure of Warwickshire is simple, but the language they use to describe it makes it sound most complicated. However, we should briefly consider the lie and composition of the land, for from it we can learn quite a lot about the grouping of industry, of its natural resources, and even about such matters as changes in scenery and in the architectural styles of building throughout the county. The Avon, which flows through Warwickshire from north-east to south-west, divides the county into two unequal parts, that area on the north-west of the river being the larger.

Most of this latter is composed of Triassic marls and sandstones, the main sandstone belt running from Kenilworth, through Coventry, to Atherstone, near the north-eastern border. Along this border, too, runs a narrow strip of the coal measures. It extends from Nuneaton, through Atherstone, to Tamworth, and although comparatively small, is extremely productive of high-quality coal. This is Warwickshire's share of the Black Country, a land of collieries, forges, ironfields and canals, where belching chimneys darken the land and begrime what few trees and hedgerows remain. Tacked on to the eastern end of the coal belt is a valuable vein of Hartshill quartzite which is extensively quarried. The southern and the smaller of the two divisions into which the Avon divides the county consists mainly of lias limestone. Evidence of this foundation is reflected in the architecture of this area; the villages possess many of the Cotswold characteristics and provide welcome relief from the brighter-hued buildings found on the other side of the river.

Here, too, where the northern spurs of the Cotswolds fringe the county's southern border, the land is highest, rising to eight hundred and twenty-six feet in Edgehill, with Brailes and Kineton on either side. These hills command magnificent views over the central plain where the silver ribbon of the Avon flows in leisurely way past Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon through some of the finest sylvan scenery in Britain. Camden called the country south of the river the Feldon or open country, as opposed to the north, or Woodland, where the remnants of the great forest of Arden, which at one time covered most of the district, still justify the county's title of Leafy Warwick. Warwickshire is not particularly rich in prehistoric remains, doubtless because Arden covered so much of its area for so long. There are, however, remnants of ancient earthworks at Beausale camp, Nedbury camp and Oldbury camp. Saxon remains, too, are sparse, but fragments are found along the old Roman Fosse Way which enters the county at Halford, on the Worcestershire border, and runs across it in a straight line from south-west to north-east.

A Saxon cemetery of the fifth or sixth century was discovered in 1924 at Bidford, near Stratford-on-Avon. The famous Watling Street forms the county's north-eastern boundary from a point near Rugby to Atherstone. Historic Associations of Warwick Warwick, the county town, stands roughly in the centre of the county on the Avon, amidst glorious typically English scenery. It still retains much evidence of life in the Middle Ages despite the fact that it was ravaged by fire in 1694. Its old east and west gates, dating from the twelfth century, still stand, although very little of the ancient wall remains. Its many half-timbered Tudor houses are without equal in England. Here there is an air of quiet, unhurried life. Here the townsfolk go about their business as they have done for hundreds of years past, and it is difficult to imagine, as one watches the barges gliding silently down the Grand Union Canal, which skirts the town to the north, that Birmingham is only twenty miles away. Warwick Castle Warwick is a very ancient town.

It arose around the great mounds which Ethelflaeda, Lady of the Mercians and eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, fortified in the year 914. Its crowning glory is its magnificent castle (dominating the site of great natural beauty) whose walls rise sheer from the rock that forms the north bank of the Avon. If you go in by the gatehouse to the central courtyard, you will see Ethelflaeda's mount, with Eaesar's and Guy's towers opposite. What history these wall must have witnessed! Here came John Giffard when he captured the castle for Simon de Montfort during his struggle with Henry III: here Warwick the Kingmaker kept Edward IV his prisoner in 1469. The castle contains many beautifully panelled rooms and a fine collection of furniture and pictures. The armour is regarded as one of the finest collections in existence. Outside, in the town, is St Mary's Church, distinguished by its lofty tower through the base of which the roadway runs. But perhaps the most interesting building is Lord Leycester's Hospital. It was originally a guildhouse, but was turned into an almshouse in 1571 for persons maimed in the wars of those times.

Today it still serves a similar purpose. Memorial to the Past The countryside around Warwick is rich in associations with the past. Only two miles away is Guy's Cliffe, in the grounds of which is the cave where lived that legendary hermit Guy of Warwick after his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The chapel of St Mary Magdalene, founded to his memory by Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who died in 1491, contains a mutilated statue of the hermit. About midway between Warwick and Coventry lies the pleasant little town of Kenilworth with its castle, immortalized in St Walter Scott's novel. Few castles in England can boast of such extensive remains; none can claim a finer or more picturesque setting. John of Gaunt built the Strong Tower, the Banqueting Hall and the White Hall, and later additions were made by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, upon whom, in 1562, the castle was conferred by Queen Elizabeth. ON the road from Warwick to Kenilworth is Black Low Hill, on which a cross marks the spot where Piers Gaveston, favourite of Edward II, was executed after his trial in the great hall of Warwick Castle.

Two miles to the east of Warwick, where the Leam joins the Avon, is Leamington Spa. It belonged in early times to the priory of Kenilworth, and although its mineral springs were known in the Middle Ages, it was not until 1786, when the baths were erected, that any extensive use was made of them. Today Leamington is a dignified, sometimes pompous residential town catering for the usual colony of well-off and not-so-well-off retired hypochondriacs and invalids that are always found in such spas. Birthplace of Shakespeare Foremost of Warwickshire's show places is, of course, Stratford-on-Avon, only nine miles from Leamington. Had it not been for Shakespeare, it would probably be just a fine old market town nestling in the leafy beauty of Avon valley, unspoiled by a constant influx of tourists and sightseers. Stratford arose around a monastery as far back as the year 691, but it was not until 1553 that it was incorporated as a town. Eleven years later, on April 23, 1564, William Shakespeare was born.

It was through the agency of David Garrick, towards the end of the eighteenth century, that the poets memory was first honoured in his native town, but another hundred years were to pass before Charles Flower founded the Memorial Theatre and the Stratford Festivals which each year commemorate the poet's birth. The present theatre, the architectural merits of which are much in dispute, was opened to the public in 1932, and replaced the original building which was destroyed by fire in 1926. Whatever the merits or demerits of the new building, few people would suggest that it is not a great improvement upon the original - a frightful eyesore. The buildings occupy a magnificent and commanding site on the banks of the Avon close to the famous Clopton Bridge. They contain, besides the theatre, a library, picture gallery and conference hall. As one would expect, most of Stratford's notable buildings have associations with the poet. His supposed birth-place in Henley Street was purchased for the nation in 1874; New Place, where he died in 1616 - strangely enough on the anniversary of his birth - was destroyed by fire, but the site was purchased by public subscription in 1861.

He is buried in the cruciform parish church of Holy Trinity beside Anne Hathaway, his wife. In addition to its Shakespearean relics and memorials, Stratford possesses the fine old guildhall and the beautiful Elizabethan Harvard House once owned by the parents of John Harvard, founder of the famous American university which bears his name. The countryside around Stratford, like the town itself, is rich in Shakespearean associations. At Shottery, just a mile away, is the exquisite thatched cottage in which Anne Hathaway was born. It was purchased for the nation in 1892. Charlecote Park, where Shakespeare was said to have shot a deer, an act which brought him before Sir Thomas Lucy, High Sheriff of the county, is near-by. It is now the property of the National Trust. In later years Shakespeare commemorated this event by caricaturing Sir Thomas as Mr Justice Shallow in Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor, but he was tactful enough to place Mr Justice Shallow's house in Gloucestershire lest Sir Thomas be affronted.

The traditional eight villages around Stratford, where Shakespeare used to make merry with his friends, are mentioned in an old rhyme, attributed to the poet, although the first two mentioned are actually just over the county boundary in Worcestershire. Piping Petworth, dancing Marston Dodging Exhall, papist Wixford Beggarly Broom and drunken Bidford. It would be a hopeless task to try to catalogue all the lovely little villages in this area. There are far too many of them, and each one seems to have some special charm of its own that distinguishes it from its neighbour. The walker will discover these villages for himself, and what country this is for walking! Dunchurch, near Rugby on the main London - Coventry road, is famous for its beautiful avenue of trees, planted in 1921 as a memorial to the 29th Division, which was billeted in the neighbourhood before embarking for Gallipoli in 1915. Would that there were more memorials of this kind. The Lion Inn is a reputed meeting-place of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. Meriden, between Coventry and Birmingham, claims to be the centre of England, as already mentioned.

Besides its old cross it has an obelisk which commemorates cyclists who fell in the First World War. Here, in the park of Packington Hall, the Woodmen of Arden, an ancient society of archers, keep alive their curious old customs each year. Between Rugby and Coventry is Knightlow Cross, noted for its hundred moot. This is still held every year on St Martin's Day (November 11), and at dawn the representatives of the eighteen parishes in the hundred meet the steward of the Lord of the Manor, the Duke of Buccleuch, round the hollow stone at the top of Knightlow Hill into which the dues are cast. These dues range from one penny to two shillings, and defaulters are liable to a fine of twenty shillings for every penny and "a white bull with read ears and a red nose." The duke provides the hot rum and milk and his health is drunk at the conclusion of this ceremony. There are one or two excellent examples of domestic and monastic architecture in or close to the Avon valley. Foremost of these are Wroxall Abbey and Baddesley Clinton Hall, both to the west of Kenilworth.

They date from the twelfth and fifteenth centuries respectively. On the Avon, about two miles east of Kenilworth is the great mansion of Stoneleigh Abbey, the seat of Lord Leigh. It dates from the early part of the eighteenth century and is built in the Classic style, but portions of the twelfth century Cistercian monastery, founded by Henry II, survive. In the Feldon country on the other side of the river the countryside takes on quite a different appearance. The land here is more hilly and, as I have said already, the architecture has much in common with that of Worcestershire, owing to the use of the local limestone. The showplace of the Feldon is Compton Wynates, the seat of the Marquess of Northampton. In Elizabethan maps it is marked as Compton-in-ye-Hole, and the old name has a peculiar aptness lacking in the new, for it lies in a hollow between Edgehill and Long Compton, literally in a hole. The great house is picturesque beyond description - a beautiful mixture of stone and half-timber.

Built by William Compton, who was knighted in the Battle of the Spurs, it was originally moated and is perhaps the finest example of Tudor domestic architecture in existence. The house was taken by the Parliamentarians in 1646, and the adjacent church, destroyed by them, was restored in 1663. Forgotten Towns Here in the Feldon we are very close to the past, and one cannot help feeling a little sad when one recalls that some of the places, now little more than hamlets, were once foremost amongst the towns of England. Take Briales, for example, one of the forgotten towns of England. Valued in the "Domesday Book" at more than a score of Birminghams, it was in those distant days second only to Warwick. It was a great centre of the wool grade, and even today, although there are few sheep to be seen on the surrounding hills, it retains something of the grandeur of the sheep-farming days. The church and the George Inn face one another in the main street. The inn is the older by fifty years, and here were housed the workmen who built the church in the great heyday of wool.

The church is now far beyond the needs of the parish, but it is a notable example of the Decorated style, comparable with anything to be found in the county. In Brailes today you might be living in an England of five hundred years ago, and were it not for the intruding motorcars, or perhaps an airplane overhead, Elizabethan broadcloth would look more appropriate than modern clothes. Not far away the leaning tower of Barcheston Church marks all that is left of what was once the most famous tapestry town in England. There is only a farm, a cottage and a rectory there now, but Sheldon tapestries are still the most sought after English fabrics. The old village of Kineton is chiefly interesting because of its associations with the battle of Edgehill, the first clash of arms in Civil War, which was fought on a near-by ridge on October 23, 1642. It is strange to note that just as the Feldon country has declined in importance with the passage of time, so has the Woodland developed and progressed. Today all Warwickshire's large modern towns and cities are north of the Avon where, of course, the great bulk of her mineral wealth lies.

Foremost in size of all these is, of course, Birmingham. Like tentacles, the arms of this straggling city stretch out and threaten the surrounding countryside. They reach out beyond Redditch, in Worcestershire, threaten Henley-in-Arden, and roughly follow the course of the river Alne towards Beausale and Wroxall Abbey. Along all the main roads there is the usual unsightly ribbon development; modern villas, petrol-filling stations and roadhouses now stand where quick hedges once grew, and the sound of motor-car engines has replaced the more leisurely plod of horses' hooves. Concrete highways and back gardens cover much of what was once the good cattle land of Arden. Yet even here, in the fields between the main roads, the old holders of the land still wage a relentless but losing fight with the ruthless advance of bricks and mortar. Cobbett contemptuously called Birmingham the "Wen" to summarize all that he found distasteful, yet for all its unpopularity with the true countryman it has brought wealth and prosperity to the county, and within an incredibly short space of time has risen from an obscure Puritan settlement to proud place of second amongst English cities.

As the chief centre of the hardware trade of the world it has more than fifteen hundred distinct trades within its boundaries, ranging from the manufacture of small arms and explosives to railway wagons, machine tools, rubber goods and chemicals; to mention only a few. The Great City The city is built on a red sandstone site between the valleys of the Rea and Tame, with its suburbs extending over the borders into Staffordshire and Worcester. It looks down upon the central plain from heights varying from two to six hundred feet, and its position nearly at the centre of England makes it a railway junction of the first importance. Most of the old buildings in the centre of the city disappeared in the great clearance of slum and unsanitary property, begun in 1875, and nearly all the buildings are, in consequence, of comparatively recent construction. Nevertheless, even today, and despite aerial bombardment, Birmingham is still cursed with some of the most fear-some slums in Britain. The Town Hall, Art Gallery, Theatre Royal, Exchange and most of the finest buildings, are to be found in the central thoroughfares of New Street, Corporation Street and Colmore.

The university grew out of Queen's College, founded as a school of medicine in 1828, and later moved to Edgbaston, where its buildings now stand. Birmingham, like Coventry, is the seat of a bishop, and its chief magistrate has been a lord mayor since 1896. Its fine cathedral, originally St Philip's Church, is built in the Palladian style and its stained-glass windows by Burne-Jones are admired by Burne-Jones are admired by many. The city's mother church, St Martin's, was the only parish church until 1715. The city has acquired some valuable breathing spaces on the nearby Lickey Hills, of which about a square mile has been presented to the public by members of the Cadbury family. Sutton Park is a fine stretch of wild heath close to Birmingham, but it actually belongs to the adjoining borough of Sutton Coldfield. The well-known chocolate factory of Bournville, built by George Cadbury, although actually in Worcestershire, is included in Greater Birmingham. It was built on garden city lines in 1895. Coventry, second of Warwickshire's cities, is of very old foundation.

It grew up around the Benedictine monastery founded by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, in 1043, and in the fourteenth century ranked fourth in commercial importance in England. Originally it was surrounded by a wall were razed by Charles II, and only two of the gates remain. Coventry had experienced the ravages of war long before the German bombers introduced the word "Coventrated" into the English vocabulary. In the Wars of the Roses it declared for the Lancastrians, whilst Warwick supported the Yorkists, and during the Civil War it was besieged after the fateful battle of Edgehill. Coventry has grown since Peeping Tom bored a hole in his shutter to watch Lady Godiva ride by. Up until the close of the seventeenth century, it was a centre of the cloth industry, and later it became noted for ribbons, watched and sewing-machines. Today it is a great industrial city populated by some of the most skilled artisans and workers in the country, whose productions range from aeroplanes and motor-cars to artificial silk and all kinds of electrical apparatus.

Even before the heavy air raids of November, 1940, wiped out of most of it, the central area with its narrow medieval streets had become quite unable to cope with the heavy volume of modern traffic, and the city's architect had already prepared a plan for rebuilding this area. The plan envisaged a wide ring road round the central area on to which all through traffic could be diverted. The area enclosed within this road was to have been rebuilt without disturbing the numerous fine historical monuments that fell within it. However, the devastation wrought by the raids has facilitated the carrying out of this plan, and the Mayor's first remark on seeing the damage was "we have always wanted a site for a new civic centre, and now we have it." But the destruction of so much that was lovely and irreplaceable, so many cherished links with history, particularly the fine cathedral church of St Michael, is a fearful price to pay for the chance to erect a new and more spacious city centre. Standing on the Avon to the east of Coventry is Rugby. From the train as you approach the town you will see the tall wireless masts of Hillmorton which connect Britain by beam radio with the farthest ends of the earth.

Rugby is a substantial market town and hunting centre, and besides being one of the chief railway junctions of England, it houses an enormous electrical works. The famous school, immortalized in Tom Brown's Schooldays, is also the home of Rugby Football, for it was here, in 1823, that William Webb Ellis astonished his schoolfellows by grabbing the ball and running with it towards his opponents' goal. These, then, are some of the towns and villages within the borders of this lovely English county. The picture is incomplete, for it would take a whole book to sing all its praises and give the reader anything like a comprehensive view of Warwickshire's many-sided activities. But no sketch, however short, would be complete without at least some attempt to describe the Warwickshire man. What is really meant by the Warwickshire man? Is it the million and a half men and women who live and work in the great cities or the hundred thousand minority spread over the country areas? To me it is in the countryside that the soul of Warwickshire is to be found, for these years of evolution amid the Woodland and the Feldon.

Warwickshire countrymen are solid, unemotional folk, man of a dozen skills, whose mixed farming allows little development of that specialization that prevents a man from turning a hand to any other job than his own. You will often find a couple of hundred acres farmed by a farmer, his wife, two sons and, perhaps, a hired man. Yet, despite the endless work this entails, they will take a pride in their hedging and ditching, and their ricks will always be well and neatly thatched with a skill that has been handed down from father to son for countless generations. They are quiet, reserved men, not easy to understand, and if they rarely open their hearts, you will sooner or later, catch them unawares and be surprised at the depth and sincerity of their friendship. They are hospitable people, too, but above all they are great traditionalists. Representatives of the old craftsmen, they still defy the machine; hurdle-making is still a considerable art in many areas, and only the fierce drive of competition has forced many of them against their will to employ the "new-fangled" tractor instead of the horse. These men of Warwickshire are fiercely devoted to their county.

Loftily intolerant of "foreigners" who trespass on its soil, they are equally averse to crossing the borders of their native land into the "heathen" area that lie beyond. What else could one expect from men whose names were known in the land at the time of the Norman Conquest; whose land was their father's and their father's fathers? These Warwickshire countrymen live very close to nature; the land is their whole life, and, like the land they till so lovingly, they can be cruel as well as kind, but they are always honest, industrious and straightforward. In the large towns and cities a new race of Warwickshire men has grown up, a race who have forsaken the quiet and dignity of labour on the land for the hurry and bustle of the machine age in the cities. Many of these men are Warwickshire's adopted sons, for her industry has absorbed thousands who were persuaded to leave their age-old callings: and it is still in clamour to satisfy its ever-growing needs.

And if the two races, the Warwickshire countrymen and the polyglot machine minder, do not mix too readily, and if the countryman is a little suspicious of the town-dweller, they both have the same goal before them and march forward hand in hand to the greater honour and prosperity of the beautiful county in which they live. [Your user agent does not support frames or is currently configured not to display frames.] The books displayed above are returned using the search terms 'Warwickshire'. *If nothing is found relating to these terms Amazon will display a selection of books from the general Best Seller list. Selected UK Retailers BBC - Coventry and Warwickshire Features - Centre of England The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. The centre of England is widely believed to be at Meriden, near Coventry. The monument marking the centre of England in Meriden The town even has a 500-year old monument as a testament to this. But, is it really at the heart of the country? In October 2002, BBC News Online made a series of reports into the centres of Great Britain, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales - and the results provide a few surprises.

See their report on Meriden by following the link to 'A tale of two centres' on the left. Extensive study BBC News Online reporter Brady Haran spent two weeks and covered more than 1,300 miles in his quest to discover the geographic centre of Great Britain, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Everyone can visit the sites, linked on the left, read the reports and debate the issues raised. Meriden's claims could be false Using the Ordnance Survey's Gravitational Method of mapping, the BBC discovered Meriden is no longer the centre of England. Instead, it is pinpointed to a small farm near the town of Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire. There are many ways to define the geographic centre of an irregular shaped object such as the UK land mass. The method the BBC adopted is the one preferred by the Ordnance Survey, known as the Gravitational or Centre-of-gravity method. To put it simply, in this method a computer is used to find the point at which a cardboard cut-out of the country could be balanced on the tip of a pencil - its centre of gravity. The calculations used in determining the centre of gravity also takes into account the nation's many small islands.

Shropshire village could become centre of UK - BBC News BBC News Shropshire village could become centre of UK 16 September 2014 Close share panel Image copyright Google Image caption Ordnance Survey said the centre of the UK, excluding Scotland, would be a field to the west of High Ercall A village in Shropshire would become the exact centre of the UK if Scotland became independent, Ordnance Survey (OS) has calculated. Scottish independence is the subject of a referendum on Thursday . OS said the centre of Great Britain had been "hotly disputed" for decades, but for the first time it had calculated the results for the UK as a whole. It said a field near High Ercall would become the centre if Scotland became independent. The field south of Shawbury is at grid reference 357767 317879. With Scotland included the centre point calculated by OS is in the middle of Morecambe Bay, at map coordinates 341575 466760. Balance the UK The term Great Britain currently refers to England, Scotland, Wales and their collective islands, while the UK also includes Northern Ireland.

"We don't map Northern Ireland, but we got the data and applied it," said Rob Andrews from Ordnance Survey. He said: "We use the gravitational method of working it out. If you imagine cutting out the whole of the UK with a giant pair of scissors and balancing it on a church spire, it's the balancing point. "There are other methods, though, which can deliver different results." Meriden, near Coventry, and Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire both claim to be the geographical centre of England, while Haltwhistle, in Northumberland, and Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire have strong claims to be the centre of Britain depending on which method is used. Image copyright Ordnance Survey Image caption Ordnance Survey said its gravitational method measured the balancing point if the UK was a cut-out Heart of England Signpost Browse Signpost hotels in Herefordshire Shropshire Shropshire is another March county that saw much conflict between English and Welsh, hostilities between warring tribes and invading Romans. The Wrekin and Stretton Hills were created by volcanoes and in the south the Long Mynd rises to 1700 ft and has panoramic views of much of the Severn plain.

Ironbridge, near the present day Telford, is said to be where the Industrial Revolution started in Britain. County town Shrewsbury was an historic fortress town built in a loop of the river Severn, whereas Ludlow, with its 11th century castle, is now one of the gastronomic high spots of Britain. A. E. Housman, an English classical scholar and poet, best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad, is buried in its churchyard. Browse Signpost hotels in Shropshire Staffordshire Staffordshire, squeezed between the Black Country to the south and Manchester to the north is home to the Potteries, a union of six towns made famous by Wedgwood, Spode and other ceramic designers. Top attractions include Lichfield with a magnificent three-spired 13th century cathedral and was birthplace of Samuel Johnson, the Staffordshire Hoard Exhibition, Weston Park and Trentham Estate with its award-winning gardens and Monkey Forest. Warwickshire Warwickshire's most visited town is Stratford-upon-Avon, the bard's birthplace, with three theatres playing Shakespeare and other dramatists' work.

It is also a well preserved Tudor town on the banks of the Avon. The city of Warwick is dominated by its 14th century castle (alas the furniture has gone) and its museums. Many family activities are staged at the castle throughout the year. Meriden, near the city of Coventry, claims to be the centre of England. West Midlands The West Midlands is an urban area, criss-crossed by motorways, and still representing the powerhouse of Central Britain. Coventry, its main city, rose like a Phoenix from the Ashes after the last war and its 1962 cathedral stands next to the ruins of the former 14th century edifice. Wolverhampton has been called Capital of the Black Country, made famous through its ironwork. Walsall, birthplace of Jerome K Jerome, has three museums. Sutton Coldfield and Solihull, sometimes known as Birmingham’s Hampstead and Wimbledon, have proud civic traditions. Worcestershire Worcestershire borders the West Midlands complex and serves as a dormitory area for many Birmingham workers. Worcester too has a famous cathedral, cricket ground, and 15th century Commandery, now a Civil war museum.

Great Malvern, still a Spa town, is famous as the birthplace of Sir Edward Elgar, who drew much of his inspiration from the countryside around. The annual Malvern Festival celebrates him and George Bernard Shaw, whose plays were first premiered there. Evesham is the centre of the fruit growing area and Droitwich still has briny water in its spa baths, where visitors can float.

Question: Which city is the closest Meriden which claims to be the geographical centre of England?
Answer: COVENTRY